«عِيشْ يَا كَدِيشْ لَمَّا يِطْلَعِ الْحَشِيشْ»

The saying pictures a hungry workhorse, a humble nag rather than a fine steed, told to keep itself alive with nothing to eat until fresh pasture sprouts. It mocks the habit of answering present need with a remedy that has not yet come into being, so the sufferer must somehow endure in the meantime.

In use it points at deferral: a person is referred to something still pending, and the open-ended wait 'until' it arrives exposes how hollow that referral is. The Arabic lines rhyme on kadīsh and ḥashīsh, which gives the phrase a brisk, teasing ring when spoken.

Fits moments when someone's needs are put off by pointing to a benefit that has not yet arrived, such as a promised payment, a future harvest, or a vague 'soon'. It usually carries a sardonic or skeptical edge toward the one making the deferral.